‘The Rape Joke’: censorship, affective activisms, and feeling subjects

Abstract

This paper follows the affective impact of a story on rape culture in a school magazine in a US high school. Immediately following its publication, the school administrative enacted a policy of prior review on all future publications. The event made waves in US national news and online media and was denounced as an act of censorship and infringement on students’ freedom of expression. In concert with other students and faculty at the school, the author of the piece engaged in various forms of protest and on- and off-line activism. This piece tracks the multiple political affects and effects activated by the article through a notion of affectivisms. This case study further explores notions of ‘positive’ school climate and the increasingly imbricated textures of schooling experiences with online media.

Keywords:

• Rape culture
• censorship
• affect
• activisms
• social media

Notes

1. According to recent demographic data available online, the study body at Fond du Lac is 83.9% Caucasian, 7.5% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 3% Black, 1.8% Two Races, 0.7% American Indian. The median income for families is $44,128/year. 35.1% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. (http://public-schools.startclass.com/l/99374/Fond-Du-Lac-High-School).

2. Brian Holmes (2008) has published a powerful ‘Affectivist Manifesto’ focusing on art activism as a visceral interruption to neoliberalism. Though our conceptions share many exciting resonances, my use of affectivisms focuses on both intentional and unintentional political effects stimulated by affect that, in at least in this instance, do not include art activism.